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Popular food & drink trends you don’t get

Matt N

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Hi guys. Food & drink is a big element of our everyday lives, and often, certain trends become very popular among the general population and become accepted as an everyday staple. But are there any of these food & drink trends that you just don’t identify with? Are there any where you’re finding yourself asking “why is this so popular”? Which popular food & drink trends do you not agree with, if any?

I’ll get the ball rolling with some of my personal nominations. I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not the most adventurous when it comes to food, and I have quite a basic palette:
  • Cooked breakfast/Full English Breakfast - Starting off with a big, controversial one! I’m not sure how popular cooked breakfast actually is abroad, but in Britain at least, a massive fry-up, or a Full English Breakfast to give it its proper name, seems to be a staple of many Brits’ diet, and the thing most people look forward to most about going to places like hotels. But personally, I’ll admit that I don’t quite get the hype. Don’t get me wrong, sausages and baked beans are great, and I quite like hash browns as well, but they’re not the sort of thing I’d ever think to have for breakfast. And the rest of a Full English doesn’t really appeal to me that much, personally (yes, I’m a meat-eater who surprisingly doesn’t like bacon, and I also don’t like eggs either). I understand why people like it, but I’m personally more into sweeter things for breakfast, and I’m also someone who doesn’t like to fill up on too much in one go; at a hotel, for instance, I’d always go for the Continental options over the cooked.
  • Condiments - This might sound a bit strange, but I’m not generally much of a condiments person, or at least, not to the same extent as most people. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind some condiments; for instance, I like apple sauce with pork, I like custard or ice cream with a dessert, and I also don’t mind a bit of gravy with a roast dinner (although if I had the choice, I’d personally go for a more moderate quantity as opposed to having the whole plate absolutely swimming in it). But on the whole, I’m not fussed on condiments. I like my chips plain, I like plain burgers (or “naked”, if you’re in a fancy restaurant), I like my salad plain, without any dressing, and in general, I don’t personally identify with society’s love of smothering everything in some kind of sauce or dressing.
  • Alcohol - I don’t know if this is just my age or unique to my family in particular, but it feels like practically everyone around me loves alcohol, and loves a good drink. However, I’ve been 18 for over 6 months now, yet I’m still teetotal (which is apparently the term for “I don’t drink alcohol”), and I don’t have any huge desire to change that any time soon, and I’ll admit I don’t get the general hype surrounding alcohol. That’s for multiple reasons. Firstly, while I’ve never actually tasted a true alcoholic drink, I’ve smelt a fair few alcoholic drinks over the years, and I’ve also had a brief sip of both non-alcoholic beer and non-alcoholic gin & tonic when encouraged to by my family, and I can’t say that any of those experiences were particularly positive or drinks I particularly liked. I’ve always found alcohol to either smell too strong for me, have a smell that I generally find somewhat unpleasant or both. Secondly; I know this probably makes me sound overly neurotic, but I also don’t like the general idea of drinking something that has the ability to alter your mental state. I know that’s why a lot of people like alcohol, and I understand that, but personally, the thought of doing things and saying things while you’ve got a weakened grip on reality and potentially not remembering those things afterwards scares me. I apologise if that makes me sound weird, but that’s what I genuinely think.
So those are some of the food & drink trends I don’t personally follow. I apologise if any of that’s triggering or controversial. This is all up to opinion, after all, and I certainly get why people like the things I’ve identified above.

But what are some of the food & drink trends you don’t really get?
 
Firstly, while I’ve never actually tasted a true alcoholic drink, I’ve smelt a fair few alcoholic drinks over the years, and I’ve also had a brief sip of both non-alcoholic beer and non-alcoholic gin & tonic when encouraged to by my family, and I can’t say that any of those experiences

This is like rating rollercoasters from YouTube POVs! It would be irresponsible to encourage drinking, so I won't, but I will say regret the things you've done, not the things you haven't.

The big food fad I don't get are milk alternatives. I've tried a few and they have all been dreadful. For those that can't have dairy fair enough, but choosing to put that on their cornflakes are crazy.
 
Wish it was drinking for me - it used to be until I went to university and the drinks have just kept flowing from then :eek:
I think I have to agree with milk alternatives - I just don't really get it?
 
Anyone seen potato milk? It recently launched in the UK for the first time. You'd have to pay me to try it. :p

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I think I have to agree with milk alternatives - I just don't really get it?

It's better for the environment by a long way so it makes sense for people to switch if that have no preference. Just a small thing you can easily do for the planet.

Also very hard to tell the difference when it comes to putting it in your tea or coffee or making a milkshake. I can't speak for cereal as I've always had my cereal with yoghurt (for which there are many excellent dairy-free alternatives - significantly nicer than standard ones).

The one I'll never understand is gravy. It's gross. Also vinegar on chips is grim, last thing I want to eat is a soggy chip.
 
Humans are the only species which consumes milk of another mammal. We are a bit weird.

I've been trying to phase out cow's milk and am finding unsweetened oat milk is working best for me. However, do not get whatever Costa are using for their's at the moment, awful.
 
You haven't seen adult female dogs nursing kittens then?
There have been lots of examples of cross nursing, many young goats will suckle from the nearest cow.
Most recent one I have seen in the press is a cat wet nursing a baby squirrel.
Cross wet nursing is not common, but a long way from rare.
Back on topic, non dairy milk has been around for fifty years at least...going back to awful "Barley cup" brand powdered "non" milk.
With a lot of vegi/vegan mates, I have got used to it in tea, but not a product of choice!
We drink that white water in our house called skimmed.
 
Milk alternatives, especially nut based milk alternatives, are a nightmare for a nut allergy sufferer like myself. Suddenly grabbing a flat white is not straight forward, as you go about checking what milks they have on offer to then determine what the risk of cross contamination is.
 
Milk alternatives are definitely a weird one, I try to be flexible as I drink a lot of coffee (particularly latte's) and find i'm a little sensitive to cow's milk in large amounts. But there's something about a soya or oat milk latte that just tastes a little.. off..
 
Milk alternatives, especially nut based milk alternatives, are a nightmare for a nut allergy sufferer like myself. Suddenly grabbing a flat white is not straight forward, as you go about checking what milks they have on offer to then determine what the risk of cross contamination is.

Thinking of vegimilks as "whiter than white"...that one never occurred to me.
New and interesting ways of killing off my vegi mates...
 
Sixties...loved creme caramel, and the party trick of eating three in five seconds.
Cheese and onion crisps were the big new thing, with prawn cocktail vol au vents... and spam, cheese and pickle onion on a cocktail stick was seen as a thing of sophistication.
The seventies dragged up many versions of Black Forest gateaux, and instant mashed potato...hated them both.
Eighties was when lager started to beat bitter in beer sales, and I instantly became an old man.
 
I'm not sure I would consider cooked breakfasts, condiments or alcohol to be trends.

Yorkie wraps was a trend. Bubble Tea is a trend.

Sushi could be a trend I suppose.

A foodstuff which has been around longer than the oldest person alive and has endured in popularity throughout... fair to say that's not a trend.

The oldest toxin known to mankind... definitely not a trend.
 
Never heard of a yorkie wrap until just now!
What about the strange mystery that is parmo chicken?
There is a food trend phenomenon.
And the ciabatta...invented in the eighties.
 
Another thing I don't get is deep-frying stuff that is not designed or intended to be deep-fried. Who on earth would want to consume a deep-fried Marsbar?! :mad::oops:
 
To be honest @Matt N , your list reads a bit like someone on the autism spectrum and their list of don't likes.
None of them are really trends just personal preferences. I think love/hate of condiments is quite a common one for people with autism?
 
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